


Zodiac Rising

by Reader0521



Category: Zodiac Series - Romina Russell
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader0521/pseuds/Reader0521
Summary: When Rho is captured by the Marad during Black Moon and Nishi is rescued, will she be able to resist the temptation of Aquarius? Or will she give in and abandon her friends?
Relationships: Hysan Dax/Rhoma Grace
Kudos: 1





	Zodiac Rising

Chapter 1  
Rho  
When I think of Rhoma Grace, I don’t know who she is anymore. Holy Mother, Wandering Star, or a failure who thought I was capable of uniting the Zodiac when I couldn’t even protect my friends?  
I don’t know where I am, only that I’m alone. And afraid. Fear is an overwhelming emotion. One that I’ve been feeling for so long, it almost feels like a part of me.  
I’m lying down inside of a healing pod. I can see through the glass lid of the pod that I’m in an entirely white hospital room. The color reminds me of purity and unity, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what I’m feeling. I try to remember the events that have led up to the current moment. I remember being surrounded by the Marad soldiers. I remember Crompton’s true identity being Aquarius. And, most of all, I remember Stan. In fact, I can’t stop remembering Stan and his lifeless eyes. And now I am here. Wherever here is.  
Several minutes pass before a nurse comes in to check on me. By her brightly colored hair and the tattoo on her face, I can safely assume that she’s Leonine. She lifts the lid off of the pod.  
“Can you stand?” she asks me.  
I swing my legs over the side of the pod and stand up with difficulty. My joints are so stiff that I feel like I haven’t used them in ages and as soon as I’m up, I stumble. The nurse steadies me and helps me over to a hospital bed while I survey the room. There’s a small seating area and only one bed, so I guess it’s a private hospital room, but what I’m most focused on in the window. From it, I get a view of where we are. The streets are full of people dressed in vibrant colors, dancing and singing selling brightly colored knickknacks. In the sky, I see a second, smaller sun that lights up the skyline.  
“We’re on Leo,” I say, surprised. What are we doing in Leo? I would have thought Hysan would take us somewhere safer where we could lay low for a while. Unless…  
“You’re enjoying the hospitality of Aquarius,” says the nurse, seeing the confused look on my face.  
My heart drops. “Hospitality. Is that what they’re calling getting shot and kidnapped now?”  
“They didn’t shoot you with real bullets,” explains the nurse. “They entered you into the Sumber. It was the only way to get you here safe and unharmed.”  
The Sumber. The place where one experiences either their worst fears or their greatest dreams. I don’t know which is worse.  
“Then why don’t I remember it?”  
“Aquarius gave us specific instructions to help you…forget your experiences. He felt that it would be traumatic for you.”  
My mind starts spinning. The shifty look in the nurse’s eye tells me that not everything is as it seems. She’s lying about something. I just wonder what it is.  
The door to the room slides open and a man walks in. He’s got silver hair, pink eyes, and he wears an aqua cloak. I recoil as I recognize Crompton-no, Aquarius.  
“Wandering Star,” he says. “I had hoped you would wake soon.” He nods at the nurse and she leaves the room as Aquarius pulls up a chair and sits next to my bed.  
“Why am I here?” I ask. “I’m surprised you haven’t killed me yet.”  
“Killed you?” asks Aquarius, sounding genuinely shocked. “Why would I kill an honored guest when she’s just arrived?”  
“Honored guest?” I ask. “What does that mean?”  
“It means that I brought you hear in hopes of showing you how you misjudged the Tomorrow Party.”  
“Misjudged?” I snap. “You’re the ones that attacked us! You’re the ones that killed Stan!” I choke back a sob at the thought of my brother and Aquarius takes advantage of my momentary silence and begins to speak.  
“I know, Rho, that the passing of one so close to you is hard,” he says in a soothing tone. I open my mouth to yell at him that he knows nothing but he keeps speaking. “But I have seen things that you don’t yet understand. I plan on following in the steps of your ancestors by going through the portal in Helios in hopes of colonizing a new galaxy because Helios is dying.”  
I roll my eyes. “Oh please,” I say, “if Helios is dying it’s only because you’re killing it.”  
Aquarius silences me with a look. “You’ve come so far, at least listen to me. Or have you forgotten who currently pulls the strings?”  
I look at my toes and he continues.  
“I have discovered that the Dark Matter is draining Helios of her energy. Her light is dimming. I had hoped that I was wrong, that I was simply seeing things wrong, but my Sight does not lie. Once Helios’s Halo stopped appearing, I knew that I was right. I had to act.  
“I knew I could not activate the portal until conditions were right, so I used my time to prepare for our journey. I knew that the entire Zodiac would not be able to travel through Helios, and there was no way to save the whole Zodiac. But I knew I could save part of it. But then, the three guardians conducting quantum fusion experiments, Origene, Moira, and Caaseum used Psynergy to find more answers. They were disturbing the Dark Matter. So I had to stop them, with the help of Ophiuchus.”  
“You couldn’t have stopped them any other way?” I ask. “You had to kill them? And what about the Marad? They’re just expendable to you?”  
“I’ve made my share of deals,” he says. “Trust me, Rho. Everyone is getting exactly what they want.”   
“And where do I fit in to all of this?” I ask.  
“Don’t you see?” Aquarius asks. “I had to choose the best samples of humanity to save, people like a leader worth following, who stands up in the face of injustice, who stays honest to herself, who embodies the best qualities of what an individual is capable of. I foresaw you. I foresaw a powerful deer who could See the Dark Matter and would try to save the Zodiac even when they turned their backs on her. And I needed to be sure you were worthy.”  
I take a deep breath and shudder. He’s been using me this whole time. Everything that’s happened was by his design. This all was some kind of sick and twisted test.  
“You tested new,” I says.  
“And you passed. I know what it is you want. And I can help you. I can be your true parent. The one that puts you first. The one that never abandons you. Every moment you’ve gone through, I’ve been there, watching with pride, even if you didn’t know it. Your friends abandoned you, but I can feed your everlasting flame until you shine brighter than any star in the galaxy.”  
“What do you want from me?” I ask.  
“I want you to be there, at the head of the first ship, leading us into a new, united future. Trust in me, Rho, just as I have trusted in you.”  
I close my eyes. What am I supposed to believe? Do I trust Aquarius, the one person I’ve thought was my true enemy all along? Or my friends, all the way across the Zodiac? I don’t know, but Aquarius makes one hell of a tempting offer.


End file.
